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Poster: | George Peter Gatsis | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 11:43am |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
This post was modified by Video-Cellar on 2008-05-02 22:28:56" Can someone create new Dracula content for commercial purpose? What is the concern regarding dracula mentioned by Video-Cellar?
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Poster: | DJason | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 2:02pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
On the other hand, if you wanted to write a literary sequel to Bram Stoker's book, and load it down with arty pretension and excessively artificed prose, then congratulations, you are Elizabeth Kostova, your first book made you rich, and you have no worry about being sued for infringement. :)
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Historian
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Poster: | George Peter Gatsis | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 2:18pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
Now I understand why sooo many Dracula movies butchered the original story, from Bela all the way to Copola...
Nobody actually stuck to the script... AT ALL!!!
Would it be, they feared if they did the story, shot for shot, it would be considered public domain? That's ridiculous... but I don't see any-other reason for such poor editing of the original novel.
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Poster: | Sigistrix Elric | Date: | Feb 24, 2011 6:31pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
Apparently, what went down, was that she was approached to consult on the film, because, as was rightly pointed out, he novel was already out of copyright then, and she turned them down. Apparently, film was, in her eyes, about as tawdry as prostitution, which was a common, though dying, mindset when vaudeville was king (it also explains why Keaton was delayed until 1917 before entering film, as he father felt that way and forbid him to give up the cash cow that was the family stage act for "that degenerate thing called film", but that's another snippet).
When the film went ahead without her, she was so incensed that she sued in every single nation the film opened....and usually won, even though she didn't have a legal leg to stand on, anywhere. In the end, she had control over nearly every last print (which she had destroyed, including the negative) and right to the damn thing...hence it's very sad state, today...and possibly the gun-shy attitude every filmmaker seems to have toward the PD property.
I wonder if the Stoker Estate is still around...
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Poster: | Freddie Jaye | Date: | Feb 25, 2011 11:35am |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
http://io9.com/#!5361879/bram-stokers-descendant-pens-official-dracula-sequel
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Poster: | George Peter Gatsis | Date: | Feb 26, 2011 9:57am |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
(yes, yes... I am a lazy bugger)
And there is no place in the novel that remotely suggests any of the characters would develop dark attitudes like Seward ending up a drug addict...
I fear the new official sequel novel to Dracula by the "Family" is just a generic attempt at storytelling (ex. dumping on what happened before) and a grab at money...
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Poster: | DJason | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 2:52pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
Even the most cinematically-written novel, when adapted to film, will have changes along the way. The closest adaptation I can think of is John Huston's take on Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon", which is remarkably faithful to the book, but still drops three major scenes from the book. And Falcon is one hell of a lot shorter than Dracula.
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Poster: | George Peter Gatsis | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 5:10pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
Thank you.
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Poster: | DJason | Date: | Feb 23, 2011 2:46pm |
Forum: | feature_films | Subject: | Re: Question of VIDEO-CELLAR or anyone else... re: DRACULA... |
Point being, if someone swipes (for example) your music, you have legal recourse. But if someone adapts the original novel themselves, with equal fealty to the source book, you can't stop them, because the source is public domain. Everything you add to it belongs to you (or whatever entity owns the copyright on the resulting work[s]).